bret bair joins us now. we call it the nuclear option because, in essence, this is a civil war in the senate. clear battle lines have been drawn. the democrats on one side. the democrats on the other. that is the way it is. >> it is important to point out that republicans have used this numerous times before. for a massive package like health care reform that is more than 1/6 of the nation's economy, there are lots of people, both democrats and republicans who say they should not be used in this piece of legislation. we are still a number of steps away from that, if senate majority leader harry reid decides he wants to use reconciliation. you would have to get over a number of hurdles. it is not clear that the health- care bill can make it over those hurdles that have been set up in the legislative process. the top hurdle is the piece of legislation has to be paid for for five years and has to be a deficit neutral after that. as we have seen, that is not the case with what is on the table right now. trace: w